Native Plants

A wide variety of plants flourish in the Erb Family Science Garden – most of them are native to Michigan.

What plants are considered native?

Plants that were here before Europeans settled in Michigan in the 1700’s are considered native. Native plants evolved here for thousands of years creating complex ecological relationships with other plants, animals, and ecosystems.

Plants that arrived after European settlement are considered “naturalized.” If a naturalized non-native plant grows aggressively, it is considered invasive and can have devastating effects on native plant and animal populations.

FACT: About 30% of Michigan’s 2600 plant species are exotic species introduced in the last 100 years.

Native Plants in the Garden

Before Michigan was settled, our landscape was made up of a mosaic of natural communities, forests, wetlands and pockets of prairie. Much of these ecosystems have long since been drained, farmed, logged and developed with pavement or turf grass.

While the large-scale ecological restoration of these populated areas is not feasible, home gardeners can beautify their yards and help wildlife by establishing native plants at their home – creating “mini” nature sanctuaries. These native gardens create biodiversity in the backyard – helping pollinators and wildlife, reducing pollution, and improving water quality.

To investigate which ecosystem may be appropriate to model in your yard, visit the Michigan Natural Features Inventory’s natural communities page.

Maps of the pre-settlement vegetation of Michigan are also available; these maps show the type of ecosystems that were in your area during the time of European settlement.

Whether you tuck an individual native plant in the garden or create a woodland, meadow, savanna, prairie or wetland in your home landscape. Your first step is to study the conditions in your yard: soil type, sunlight, moisture, climate and topography – to make the right plant choices.

The Erb Family Science Garden brochure provides many details on the size, growing conditions and characteristics of the native plants to aid in your research. By using the guide you can view the individual specimens.